Wilson Combat 300 HAM R 135gr FTX Hornady Flex Tip – Superb 20 Round Box

Description

Hornady built the FTX around a soft polymer tip that will not deform under recoil in a tubular magazine, and the side effect is a bullet that expands with unusual consistency at moderate velocities. That property is what makes the Wilson Combat 300 HAM R 135gr FTX one of the better whitetail loads available for an AR-15.

• Why the Flex Tip Works at HAM R Velocities
• Wilson Combat 300 HAM R 135gr FTX Specifications
• Honest Notes on This Load

Why the Flex Tip Works at HAM R Velocities

A conventional polymer tip is hard plastic. Under the pressure of a lever gun tubular magazine it can deform, and at low impact velocities it sometimes fails to drive back into the core hard enough to start expansion. Hornady solved both problems with an elastomer tip soft enough to survive magazine pressure and compliant enough to initiate expansion down around 1600 feet per second.

For the 300 HAM R that lower expansion threshold is the important number. At 2400 feet per second at the muzzle, the Wilson Combat 300 HAM R 135gr FTX is still comfortably above 1600 feet per second past 300 yards, which means the bullet will open reliably at any distance a hunter should be taking with this cartridge. A conventional soft point at the same range is much closer to the edge.

The tip also improves the ballistic coefficient to 0.274, modestly better than the 130 grain Hot-Core load. In practice that is worth a few inches of drop at 300 yards, which is real but not transformative. The expansion consistency is the reason to choose this bullet.

Wilson Combat 300 HAM R 135gr FTX Specifications

Terminal performance is moderate rather than explosive. The FTX has a fairly thick jacket and an interlocking ring that keeps the core anchored, so it expands to roughly double diameter and penetrates deeply enough for a broadside or slightly quartering shot on a deer. On hogs it is adequate behind the shoulder and less impressive through heavy shield gristle, where the bonded 135 grain load is the better choice.

Muzzle energy is roughly 1698 foot-pounds, a touch below the 130 grain Hot-Core because of the lower velocity. That difference is not meaningful in the field. What is meaningful is that both loads keep an AR-15 well inside the energy figures most states set as minimums for deer.

Wilson Combat loads the Wilson Combat 300 HAM R 135gr FTX in Berryville, Arkansas, on reloadable boxer-primed brass, and publishes velocity from an 18 inch barrel rather than a laboratory test barrel.

• Cartridge: 300 HAM R
• Bullet weight: 135 grain
• Bullet type: Hornady FTX Flex Tip expanding
• Muzzle velocity: approximately 2400 feet per second from an 18 inch barrel
• Muzzle energy: approximately 1698 foot-pounds
• G1 ballistic coefficient: 0.274
• Case: brass, boxer primed, reloadable
• Platform: AR-15 with 300 HAM R barrel and bolt
• Rounds per box: 20
• Boxes per case: 10
• UPC: 810025503697

Honest Notes on This Load

Buy the Wilson Combat 300 HAM R 135gr FTX if you hunt whitetail with a 300 HAM R and want the most reliable expansion across the full distance range the cartridge covers. This is the load to pick when shots might be long and the animal is thin-skinned.

Skip it for large hogs where the shot may have to break a shoulder shield. The 135 grain Speer Bonded load in the same weight penetrates more consistently through heavy structure.

Skip it if you need a suppressed subsonic option. The 300 HAM R has none, by design, and no amount of load selection changes that.

Choosing between HAM R loads? The 300 HAM R 130gr Speer Hot-Core is the higher-velocity general-purpose option, and the 300 HAM R 135gr Speer Bonded penetrates deeper on heavy game. Hornady documents the FTX bullet design on its own site.

MAG5 Firearms carries the full 300 HAM R lineup. If you are picking one load for both deer and hogs, tell us which you hunt more and we will point you at it.